A dangerous trend
on a downward path

The student newspapers at Oxnard and Ventura community colleges have bitten the dust. Of three similar campuses in Ventura County, only Moorpark College’s award-winning Reporter continues to exist.

The decision was made to save money. Other cutbacks are coming, some of which will cause further damage to the very concept of a "liberal arts" education. A campus newspaper is fundamentally important because it’s the voice of students.

A college newspaper serves an important role because it connects students, teachers, administrators and the surrounding community. Pulling the plug on a student newspaper is the moral equivalent of silencing freedom of speech.

It’s a sad state of affairs and a bad omen for the future. In a representative democracy, an informed citizenry is vitally important.

It’s what made this country great.

If, as a society, we let newspapers fail, and we rely exclusively on TV and the Internet to give us the news, there will be grave consequences. We will lose interest in current events and the political process because we’ll be fed the junk food of news: a steady diet of car chases and brushfires.

Politics, decision-making and elections require reading and thought. A poorly informed electorate will inevitably make bad choices, casting votes based on sound bites, negative campaigning and who’s handsomer or prettier.

On a broader scale, we wonder what will be taken away next in the name of budget cuts or national security.

The words of Ronald Reagan haunt us: "Regardless of their sincerity, their humanitarian motives, those who would sacrifice freedom for security have (taken us) on this downward path."